Quarantine internet browsing- what car- bench racing- idle speculation thread- EVERYBODY CAN PLAY!

I've got plenty of cars to keep me busy and enough to do around the house to keep me from being busy on my cars, but here I am, still looking at cars for sale anyhow.

I found an "inexpensive" C55 AMG and a slightly more expensive first gen CTS-V. I know the Merc is probably a more refined car, but that CTS-V isn't going to be a bad place to be with the manual and the V8. Plus, the CTS-V probably actually works, isn't missing any trim pieces in the glamour shots and has a lot more room... but the wrong number of doors. On the other hand... AMG Mercedes that my wife would drive, and that engine is known for being fairly reliable. 

It's all idle speculation. 

So, what does the quarantine have you looking at that you might not otherwise be looking at or looking at that you really have no intention of buying at all?

 

This is barely in line with your thread intention, but I would not have seen this magnificence. It wasn't actually done in response to Covid-19, but it made me tear up this morning.

Both of those cars have the same number of doors, so I don't understand the 'wrong number of doors' comment.  Also, they both have the correct number of doors.

My friend is trapped at home with is absolutlely lovely wonderful girlfriend. They live at her house. Normally busy people. Since they're idle all the time they decided to clean. One huge thing in the way is a mid 90's JDM Honda 400 track bike that hasn't run in a decade. Am I looking for a 400 track bike? I am not. Did they make me an offer I couldn't refuse? They did. So I did buy something I wasn't looking for and didn't mean to buy. 

I impulse bought an rx8 and tow dolly because i was bored for 5 minutes on Christmas.  I can see this ending horribly for me.  I'm purposely staying away from the for sale forum and last night I caught myself searching for a 2nd gen cavalier z24 on craigslist and shut that down after a few minutes.  

I've been looking at overland videos lately. I'm also trying to adapt my ideal car ideas to living in the Midwest. I miss tinkering on my Samurai, but they're small and rare. I've been looking at the TJ Wrangler really intently. They're not super expensive. Hard tops are easy to find. I'm pretty confident in doing most work, but I'm not confident in my ability to fight through the headwinds of stuff like rust and broken bolts. 

I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a Wrangler from a dealer in Louisiana during a visit and drive it home under all of the constraints that being away represent, or try to buy a clean, non rusty one in the Midwest. 

The build would be pretty mild:

• Undefer all of the maintenance - new fluids, whatever consumables it wants
• Just a general really good cleaning and refreshing of interior and exterior trim - I'd like this Jeep to look crisp
• Maybe remove plastic cooling system parts for metal upgrades
• Really good tires - BFG KO2 has a nice rep
• Maybe pull the interior and add soundproofing - unsure because of the weight and hoseable interior
• Lockers sound like a good idea, but I haven't read enough to know which won't hurt street behavior
• Build/buy a cargo management system
• Maybe a roof rack - height and frontal area are a problem, plus I'd like to be able to pop the roof off eventually
• Navigation system - probably a tablet mount for Gaia
• Backup camera because street parking in the city

ProDarwin said:

Both of those cars have the same number of doors, so I don't understand the 'wrong number of doors' comment.  Also, they both have the correct number of doors.

I'd have sworn the CTS-V was a coupe when I posted that. Sorry for the confusion.

I ordered wheels for the Yaris shortly before NY went into lockdown. I'm still looking at tires, struts, springs and a rear sway bar, but I'm not pulling the trigger yet. Or for a while. I'm at work, but no clue how long we are staying open and no clue how long everything wll be closed.

A side by side UTV for family fun(who am i kidding - me fun and i get to bring them along)

A slammed stanced fender flared FD 

A hoon worthy hot hatch 

Thats yesterday's research list. 

Patrick said:

I impulse bought an rx8 and tow dolly because i was bored for 5 minutes on Christmas.  I can see this ending horribly for me.  I'm purposely staying away from the for sale forum and last night I caught myself searching for a 2nd gen cavalier z24 on craigslist and shut that down after a few minutes.  

And I'm glad you had those 5 bored minutes.

Of course I've already replaced the immobile RX-8 with an immobile Fiero.  I apparently have problems and blame this forum.

I keep lookg at cheap formula cars and thinking about how to strap lights on them and register it as a kit car in California. 

I've been going through my spare LS parts lately. I'm a fuel system and a roller away from being able to throw together a +800hp turbo build.

In reply to wheelsmithy :

Thanks for that!

In reply to RacetruckRon :

i'm a fuel pump away.  I just have other more pressing things to do, like finish garage and be dad and worry about Carli because she's been deemed necessary to be at office even though she has the ability to work remotely

I'm currently designing the next car build in my head.

This currently seems to be a great time to buy a car, and to keep the universe in balance, a terrible time to be selling a car.

On a related matter, a builder posted this in my forum, with my reply below:

After something of an existential crisis this morning when I really wondered if there was actually any point in completing the car, given what's going on in the world...

I'm planning for things to go well* and try to be positive (unlike my usual grumpy self). I'm currently planning the next car project, and the thinking is that if things work out, great, and if they don't, it wouldn't have mattered whether I had or not.

Although very different, don't be like apocalyptic cult members who give away all their personal property and maybe even rack up a pile of credit card debt, because they "know" everything's going to end. Imagine how tough (in reality) their life is going to be if nothing happens, and it'll be entirely their own fault.

Which reminds me of a joke: What does a Russian optimist say? "It could always be worse."

* After, of course, dealing with immediate issues.

In reply to NickD :

I recommend you drive it for a while before you order anything, anyway.

I did what you're doing and have to sell most of what I bought because I'm not keeping the car.

eBay is thankfully devoid of closed chamber 351C-4v bits.

Other engines are better (and the LS is a modernized 351C, you won't convince me otherwise) but nothing screams awesome small-block like the look of a 351C.  Especially in a '71-73 Mustang, but people have realized those are awesome so they aren't cheap anymore.

I'm back to watching the JDM car sites- this time for luxury cars. Toyota crown limo sounds fun. 

In reply to Mndsm :

There was one site that had a '96 STI imported as a "snowblower".

Knurled. said:

In reply to Mndsm :

There was one site that had a '96 STI imported as a "snowblower".

Friend of mine has a gc8. Neat car- Not a huge subaru fan though. That era, it's all Evo. 

eBay for model cars to build. Because, like my driveway, I don't have enough things going on.

Today it's kayaks. We have four people in the house, and we've five paddle craft already, but the kids are growing fairly quickly. It *might* be time for kayak upgrades.

I feel bad, because I know some people are going to be selling non-essential items to make ends meet during the quarantine. I just won't haggle as hard.

My current quarantine bench racing thought process has led me to wonder if i can supercharge a prelude 4ws si and still make budget for the challenge. 

I did just sell a car........ maybe i could justify it to the wife......

I'm trying to figure out how to entice someone to come get my Boxster and / or 944 so I can have more space to work on the junk I already have.  And I'm always on the lookout for a set of Porsche hardback sport seats for a 996 or 997 (manual please).  I want to get them painted to match the 996, and another set if I end up with the Boxster anyway. 

Clean Bronco IIs are looking way too good these days.  I'm scared of starting with a $1000 one and offended to pay more than $5000 for one in any condition.

From a Hagerty article;